No ‘win today:' New coach remains positive after loss

The night before his head coaching debut against Ball State, Kevin Wilson had to decide whether or not to eat chicken noodle soup with his dinner.

At the beginning of the fourth quarter against Ball State, he was faced with a much more difficult decision.

Down 24-17, IU faced a fourth-and-3 at the Ball State 9-yard line. Wilson and his staff decided to go for the first down instead of attempting a short field goal.

“We need to be aggressive . . . We can’t go out and play afraid. We can’t go out playing scared, can’t worry about worst-case scenarios,” Wilson said. “We’ve got to be aggressive. We’ve got to be smart.”

That approach paid off during the team’s first drive when freshman running back Matt Perez scampered nine yards on fourth down for a touchdown, but this decision didn’t turn out as well.

Sophomore quarterback Edward Wright-Baker’s pass fell incomplete on the fourth-down attempt, and the offense left the field without any points.

Though his team lost its season opener 27-20, Wilson wasn’t disappointed. He said he was “concerned” with problems — the offensive and defensive line play, time of possession and his own play calling.

Both Wilson and players like senior wide receiver Dre Muhammad acknowledged that aspects of their game need improvement before the Hoosiers take on Virginia next Saturday.

“I think offensively and defensively, we can be a lot better, and we will get better,” Muhammad said. “We’re still confident in what we’ve got and what we’ve been working for, so it’s just a matter of improving constantly week in and week out.”

It was the first opening-game loss for IU since falling to Connecticut 34-10 in 2003.

From the time he was hired last December, Wilson brought a mentality to the team that the time to win is now.

Minutes after his head-coaching career began with a loss, Wilson remained positive at his postgame press conference.

“I think, (during) the preseason, we’ve been awfully good,” Wilson said. “The guys have worked hard, and we’re not going to panic and change what we do. We’re going to do what we do, believe in what we do.”

Many of the changes Wilson implemented during fall camp were evident during Saturday’s game, especially the increased pace on offense. During the first couple of drives, it was difficult to show a replay on the big screens at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis between plays because of how quickly Wright-Baker led the offense down the field.

Since Big Ten Media Days, Wilson repeatedly declared one of the team’s biggest priorities was to win the turnover battle.

The hard work on limiting turnovers was apparent on the offensive side of the ball, where IU committed zero turnovers.

After IU’s second-straight loss to its in-state Mid-American Conference opponent — Ball State won 42-20 in 2008 — the upbeat attitude Wilson exudes still came out in players’ comments after the game.

“It obviously hurts, but one game doesn’t make a season,” Perez said, “I think we can build off that, improve in the areas we need to and come back, and I think we can beat Virginia.”